Conventionally, there has been known a dispensing device including a chip attaching member to which a dispensing chip is attached (for example, see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-344427).
The Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-344427 has disclosed a dispensing device in which the chip attaching member can be moved in a downward direction and a spring for energizing the chip attaching member in the downward direction is provided. In the dispensing device, when the chip attaching member is moved in the downward direction and the tip of the chip attaching member comes in contact with the bottom face of a well accommodating a liquid sample, the shock of the contact is relieved by the spring. Moreover, the dispensing device detects the amount of a movement when the chip attaching member is moved in an upward direction against the energizing force of the spring in the collision of the chip attaching member, thereby detecting the contact of the chip attaching member with the bottom face of the well.
In the dispensing device disclosed in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-344427, in order to enhance precision in the detection of the contact of the chip attaching member, it is necessary to reduce the elastic force (energizing force) of the spring in such a manner that the chip attaching member can be moved in the upward direction against the energizing force (elastic force) of the spring also when the chip attaching member comes in contact with a dispensing chip by a very small force. If the elastic force of the spring is reduced, however, there is a problem in that a cushion effect (a shock absorbing effect) for relieving a shock cannot be sufficiently maintained when the chip attaching member is to be pressed into the dispensing chip in some cases in which an operation for bringing the chip attaching member down and pressing the chip attaching member into the dispensing chip to attach the dispensing chip to the chip attaching member is carried out.